Most people take medicine only for the conditions for which their doctors prescribed them. However, an estimated 20% percent of people in the United States have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons, according to the National Institute for Health. Prescription drug abuse is a serious and growing problem, often leading to addiction to narcotics, sedatives, and stimulants.
In order to prevent abuse of narcotics, prior art has been developed in the form of lockable pill bottles and time release pill bottles. Lockable pill systems are often prone to tampering, and require very different structures than people are accustomed to using, creating a barrier to entry. One example of a lockable pill device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,991 to Eannone, disclosing a computer-timed and locked medication container. This device has a plurality of compartments, and at an appropriate time, a next compartment is opened, allowing release of medicine.
What is required in the art is a secure method of storing and dispensing pills, that an end-user can be relied on to use, without being supervised by a third party. Still further, there is a need in the art for a method of dispensing pills in a way which prevents abuse.